Its now two weeks ago, that i got my X100F and if i would summarize my impression in one sentence it would just be:"An absolutely amazing cam" !

Theoretically you can stop reading here, the cons i will mention do not change my opinion at all, still there are some.

Before i continue, here two other great reviews (Jonas Rask
and Peter Poete) which helped me with my decision to get the "F" !

I started to read and get interested in the X100 Series some weeks/months before the X100S was introduced.

Even when the X100S was available i still was unsure if a cam without interchangeable lens and even without zoom would be the right gear for me. When i finally decided to get the X100S, shortly
before ordering i started to doubt. Some users wrote that they sold it, to get first version, the X100, again. I still ordered and shortly after my X100S arrived, i felt in love with it, never
regretting the investment of 1400 euro. It became my day to day gear i never wanted to miss again. Fujifilm introduced the X100T, but i was not really considering to buy it. Why should i have
done ? The X100S worked like a charm and i didn't see any big advantage. This changed immediately when i first read on fujirumers that Fuji is presenting the X100F, i just call it "the F" ! I couldn't await to read the first reviews and to drop an order. Two weeks ago it was finally on stock in
Vienna and i could hold it the first time in my hands.

I couldn't await the unboxing, so i did this immediately in my car. I prepared a fully charged battery from my X-Pro2 and after first time using the ON/OFF Switch i was already impressed by
speed. The startup time was amazing fast. Don't forget, i was used a X100S and comparing this two cams the speed from "the F" is out of this world.

You notice already, there want be much criticism, therefore lets shorten this blogpost before you get bored and stop reading ;-)

I will start with the cons:

weather sealing

One of the reasons i didn't buy the X100T. Its again not available and i really don't understand why. I cannot image that it would make "the F" bulkier, at least not much. Anyway, i noticed
already with the X100S, that if i take care and its not heavy raining, there is no issue getting some rain drops on it. I will simply handle it the same way, hoping everything stays fine and
Fujifilm one day comes up with a weather sealed X100....

"Q" Button

Its very well placed when you need it, but unfortunately its the same when you want to avoid its usage. Really a pain in the a...

I know that by pressing long the OK Button it can be locked, but thats not an acceptable solution for me. As soon as there is a thumb rest available i have to get one, i do not see any better or
other solution :-(

RAW and digital teleconverter

No clue why its not implemented to work also when shooting RAW. Hope Fuji will come up with an firmware update. I don't see any technical restrictions, so please Fuji !!!

....

Thats it, for the time being i don't have any other cons and hope it won't change !

Lets have a look on some the things i like most or see massively improved (the lot of technical improvements have already been
mentioned tons of times, so i will skip them):

Speed

I mentioned it already above, but its not just the startup time, simply everything is very fast, especially the autofocus system, where i do not see any difference to my X-Pro2. Compared to the
X100S there are lightyears in between.

Menu

I can setup and use "the F" in the same way i use my X-Pro2, which makes it much easier to switch between the two cams

Digital teleconverter

A feature i already know from the X70, with "the F" for me its now really usable, as the quality is still fine. Btw, i use it only with the first step, on the second one the quality drops more.

Two days before flying to Barcelona i still didn't prepare anything in terms of photography. Usually i prepare a photography route with places for interesting photographs, check the sun position
for this ones,... For this trip i ran out of time, so minimum was to answer myself at least some questions:

- Which gear to take ?

- Which lenses ? Zoom or primes only ?

- Will i need a tripod ?

- ...

Gear was easy as it was clear that i will only take Fuji. I have just two cameras, it's the X-Pro2 and as a backup i took my X100s which i didn't use for a quite long time since i bought the
X-Pro2.

When it comes to lenses it was not such easy. I wanted to travel as lightweight as possible trough the streets not carrying too much. I ended up with the XF35f2 and two zoom lenses, the XF10-24f4
and XF18-55f2.8-4. Thought longer about the XF23f1.4 and XF56f1.2, but then i decided to leave at home as the X100s is already equipped with a 23f2 lens and the XF56f1.2 is at least in terms
of focal length covered by the kit zoom. Both are not that fast, but great.

For most of my photographs i usually don't need a tripod, but i definitely wanted to shoot also some sunsets and long exposures on the beach of Barcelona. To still stay lightweight i took only a
mini tripod, hoping that it will be enough. Some additional ND filters and my camera bag was completed.

I have been attending a workshop called "High- and Low Key Portrait". Its my first studio shooting and to be honest i didn't expect at all that its that much effort to set up the environment. A
lot of different equipment was involved which i never used before and even didn't know what it is. Good, that all the other participants are already experienced photographers and have been able
to handle all the staff like strobes, softboxes,...

Here some results of the shooting. Btw, it was the first time i used flash !

As written in my previous post i bought the X70 mainly due to the tilt screen and being able to take photographs at ground level.

I found some minutes of free time and made a short photowalk to see how well its working and if its worth still keeping the X70 !?!?

Crossing the rails

What i can immediatly answer is, that its for this way of photography absolutely perfect ! Due to the tilt screen i am able to carefully compose the image without
being blind during the phase of capturing or having the need to lay on the floor in order to see what i capture.

down the street

Some more things of the X70 i like are the size and image quality. I really like the compactness compared to the X100 series. It fits into the pocket and is
confortable to held without a thumb grip or any additional accessories.

Regarding image quality, i do not see any difference to the X100s. To be honest i didn't also expect any, as they use the same sensor. I didn't check the digital
teleconverter in detail, but what i saw during a short test is that the 35mm are still ok. With the 50mm setting the quality dramatically decreases, so for me not really acceptable.

Apart from all the Fuji benefits like image quality, usability,... there is one feature, the tilt screen, which is
only available with the X70. Additionally to that its also a touch screen, which after some minutes usage i already can say, that its great and a completly different way of
shooting !

In streetphotography i often do a lot of shots from a very low point of view. This is of course also possible with any other cam
without a tilt screen, but its really a pain. Especially if you work or compose a photograph like i do. My goal is not to crop or at least not to have the need to massively crop photos during
post processing, therefore i very carefully compose the image during the shooting already.

First impressions,... will follow as soon as i have time for a photowalk with the X70 and there i curious to see if i will miss the
viewfinder or not.

To be honest, i don't know if i will really be able to regulary write articles due to lack of time, but at least i want to start and share my first
impressions with my X-Pro2.

I don't want to go into detail about all the features and specs as this was already written in hundreds of other articles.

I want to highlight three things which impressed me most.

AF joystick

I was shooting till now with Sony (changed since some weeks completely to Fuji, this story may end in another blog post ) and Fuji X100s. I got my X-Pro2 three weeks
ago and first i tried, as already read about it, was the joystick. I was never able to set the focus point so fast before. But not only this, i am now able to do the adjustment while
still looking trough the viewfinder !

two card slots

Why is this so important for me ? Well, i am shooting in RAW and jpg and use the setting RAW/JPEG which stores the RAW files on the first and the JPEG on the second
card. Now the big advantage for me. When at holiday or simply not near my desktop PC i always had to change my settings to shoot only JPEG, as this was the only way to import and post process the
photograph on an IPad, otherwise only the embedded small resolution preview within the RAW file was imported. Now this is history, i simply take the second card and still have my RAW's !

As mentioned before i shoot RAW and JPEG since years and with this paragraph my previous point may become obsolete, but i am now seriously thinking to use only JPEG.
The ooc (out of the cam) photographs i get with the X-Pro2 are simply amazing and i really more and more see no issue to do a lot of post processing which takes time. Furthermore i would
save space, not only on the memory cards but also on my PC.